As early as 10, I was fascinated by science. My love started with rocks, and I still have a vivid memory of my excitement during an elementary school test wandering around the classroom identifying thrm. Since then, my interests in science have grown and evolved, whittling down to microbiology by the time I was an undergraduate. Since then, I will have had two and half years of research experience with bacteria through both my undergraduate research experience and the completion of my Master's degree. My focus has always been functional genomic and molecular microbiology, studying the intrinsic characteristics of various bacteria through a number of techniques. The culmination of my undergraduate research resulted in the completion of an undergraduate thesis and separate co-first author publication, along with my colleague in the lab. I am expected to defend my Master's thesis in the fall. Apart from my research, my education has focused on diversity and outreach within the scientific community. From helping create the charter for an Undergraduate Biology Advisory Council in my undergrad to the completion of the Diversity and Inclusion Badge Program in my graduate career, this is an area of the science community that I care deeply about on a personal level.